BATON ROUGE, La. — Leonard Fournette’s least productive game this season was still too much for South Carolina, particularly with the seventh-ranked Tigers improving through the air.
Fournette ran 87 yards for a touchdown, Brandon Harris passed for a career-best 228 yards, and LSU defeated South Carolina 45-24 on Saturday in a game moved to Tiger Stadium because of catastrophic flooding in the Gamecocks’ home state.
Fournette finished with a season-low 158 yards on 20 carries in three quarters. Freshman Derrius Guice rushed for 161 yards and a TD, while fellow running back Darrel Williams scored twice as the Tigers (5-0, 3-0 Southeastern Conference) piled up 396 yards rushing.
Travin Dural had 109 yards receiving for LSU, highlighted by his 62-yard TD. Malachi Dupre also had a touchdown catch.
With quarterback Lorenzo Nunez nursing a sore shoulder, Perry Orth started for South Carolina (2-4, 0-4). He passed for 200 yards and two TDs against one interception by John Battle on a deflected pass.
South Carolina freshman Rashad Fenton returned a kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown on what also marked the first time he’d touched the ball in his young career.
Pharoh Cooper caught seven passes for 105 yards, highlighted by his 43-yard touchdown. Jerell Adams had a 36-yard touchdown catch for South Carolina, but the Gamecocks struggled to move the ball on the ground, finishing with 74 yards rushing.
The relocated game was like none seen before at LSU; the Gamecocks were technically the home team in Death Valley.
With the decision to move the game coming on Wednesday, there were barely three days to sell tickets, and attendance was 42,058, leaving vast areas of empty seats in a stadium that can hold 102,000.
As the road team, LSU, which normally wears white jerseys with gold helmets and pants at home SEC games, wore purple jerseys and alternate white helmets and pants.
The LSU band played South Carolina’s alma mater before and after the game. And Tigers fans, who normally boo visiting teams as they enter the stadium, applauded the Gamecocks before and after the game.
South Carolina athletic director Ray Tanner said the hospitality offered by LSU and its fans was “truly moving,” but that ended inside the lines, where LSU dominated both time of possession (39:53 to 20:07) and net yards (624-283).
The struggling Gamecocks never quit though, pulling as close as two touchdowns, at 38-24, on Cooper’s TD late in the third quarter.
With the loss, South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier fell to 0-4 in the SEC for the first time in his career, which includes 23 seasons at Florida and South Carolina.
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